Enter Sandman
by RangerBlack
Summary: Shukaku sings Gaara a lullaby, but it's far from comforting. Gaara's tale retold.


**Enter Sandman**

_Say your prayers little one  
dont forget my son  
To include everyone  
I tuck you in  
warm within  
Keep you free from sin  
'til the sandman he comes_

The Kazekage looked down at the tiny red haired child his wife had cursed with the name Gaara in the last few breaths of her life. Her death had been messy, the blood that sat on the sandstone tiles he suspected would stain just to remind all that entered of the Devil's work that took a life to curse another.

The boy's aquamarine eyes drifted shut and in moments his breathing leveled out in his sleep. Lost in thought the boy's father didn't take notice of the boy's restlessness until the baby was almost thrashing in his arms.

"Gaara!"

_Sleep with one eye open  
Gripping your pillow tight_

"Gaara wake up!"

The tiny child's beautiful eyes snapped open and his thrashing ceased. The Kazekage's questioning of the demon experts only came up with a theory: The boy was plaged by the restless power of a demon. And while asleep the demon could easily attack it's young prison and fight for control over the body.

The thoughts of controling the demon through the child faded from the father's mind as he ordered the child's nurses to keep Gaara awake at all times. No good letting the demon rule no matter how tiny the body. Perhaps there'd be a use once the boy got older?

_Exit light  
Enter night  
Take my hand  
we're off to never never-land_

Yashamaru sat and watched as the first night passed for his tiny nephew.

_Something's wrong, shut the light  
Heavy thoughts tonight  
And they aren't of snow white  
Dreams of war  
Dreams of liars  
Dreams of dragons fire  
And of things that will bite, yeah_

Gaara watched the moon high above Suna as he sat through yet another sleepless night. He could stay awake all on his own now and carried a gourd full of sand straped to his back. But right now he was thinking of his siblings and how come he wasn't like any of them. Both Temari and Kankuro shared similar likes and both slept at night, but darkness rimmed his sleepless eyes while just the thought of falling into the hell called sleep was enough to keep him awake for so many days they all bled together.

The village hated him. It wasn't a question to the little six year old. But some times, especially when screams ripped the air, if not for his siblings and Yashamaru, Gaara felt he could begin to hate himself as well.

A sound was made behind him and the gourd cracked apart to surround him in a sand shell. It protected him from the attack and in moments the attacker lay crushed and bairly breathing.

Gaara cried without knowing it as his bestfriend and uncle rasped out the horrible truth of his existence. Gaara tried to believe his dear Yashamaru truely didn't do this of his free will, but his uncle continued by voicing his own deeply set hate for the small boy.

"You are a monster Gaara. And for that you must die," Yashamaru hissed before setting off his last attempt at killing his demon-sealed nephew.

He never knew he'd created a even worse monster out of the six year old.

_Sleep with one eye open  
Grippin your pillow tight_

_Exit light  
Enter night  
take my hand  
we're off to never never-land_

Over the years children where tucked into their beds they recited a prayer with their parnets, most now, were praying for protection against their Kazekage's last born.

_Now I lay me down to sleep  
_"Now I lay me down to sleep...

_Pray the lord my soul to keep  
_Pray the lord my soul to keep...

_If I die before I wake_  
If I die before I wake...

_Pray the lord my soul to take  
_Pray the lord my soul to take"

He was so tired. He couldn't remember how many days had passed since he last fell into his persistent hell and payed his price to his devil for the ablity to stay standing. Wanting more then anything to be free of his perment hell he passed out from exhaustion as his sleep deprived body sunk to the ground.

It didn't take long for the demon Shukaku to awake inside of the poor boy, but with a body this weak there was little to do. So in a show of his twisted fashions Shukaku treated his host and prison to a witty nightmare.

Laughing at it's own sick humor the sand demon growled into the boys mind a twisted rhyme.

"_Hush little baby don't say a word  
And never mind that noise you heard  
Its just the beasts under your bed  
In your closet in your head_."

From in his nightmare sleep Gaara struggled to fight the cruel teasing of Shukaku, while from the waking world Temari tried desperately to wake her little brother.

"Gaara!"

_Exit light  
Enter night  
Grain of sand_

"Temari look out, the sand!" Kankuro shouted, pulling his older sister away from the wave of sand just before it crashed where she'd been.

_Exit light  
Enter Night  
Take my hand!  
we're off to never never-land_

"Gaara you have to wake up!" Temari screamed as arms of the sand cascade swatted at her and Kankuro.

Shukaku though, found it fun to drag his host's sanity farther into it's own insanity. So to Gaara's mind it whispered,

"_We're off to never never-land_" Chuckled the raspy growl of the sand demon.

"_Take my hand_!" Kankuro shouted to his brother. "Come on Gaara!"

"_We're off to never never-land  
Take my hand  
We're off to never never-land  
We're off to never never-land_," Shukaku murmured laughing at the chaos but a few minutes of control over a sleep deprived body he could cause.

**The End**

Song: Metallica's Enter Sandman (the lyrics are in _italics_) I don't own either the song or the charaters.


End file.
